


A Fair Trade

by Fyre



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-17
Updated: 2012-09-17
Packaged: 2017-11-14 11:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/514746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fyre/pseuds/Fyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dumbledore must get rid of the Mirror of Erised, and calls on a powerful ally to do so.</p><p>A companion piece to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/514744">Erised</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	A Fair Trade

Despite the protections laid about the school, the man - the creature - appeared when his name was called. He was inhuman, but then creatures from another world often were. His dragon-hide coat shimmered in the firelight and he bared sharp, blackened teeth.

“Albus Dumbledore,” Rumpelstiltskin said with a knowing grin. “Well, well, well, dearie. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? When was it we last met? 1945, as I recall? A little help with a little wizard, hmm?”

Dumbledore folded his hands together, looking across his desk at the sorcerer. “You know why I called on you.”

“Oh, yes,” Rumpelstiltskin hissed, leaning forward on the desk. “You have a most desperate need, I believe. The deepest desire, one might say.”

The wizard felt a shiver run down his spine. “You know that much?”

Rumpelstiltskin waved dismissively. “I listen well, Albus. I hear whispers aplenty, and you know I can hear the cries of the desperate better than anyone.” He smiled. “Your little Saviour is quite in love with an illusion. Tut tut. Very clumsy, letting him see.”

“He was never meant to…”

“No one is ever meant to,” the imp cut across him sharply. “But the damage is done and you have let him see what he can’t have. Now, what would you have me do?”

Dumbledore rose. It was strange to feel young next to so ancient and terrible a creature, but young he felt, young and desperate and small. “I need to be rid of it,” he said, “but magic mirrors cannot be destroyed without great power. Can you destroy it?”

Rumpelstiltskin looked at him with contempt. “I could render it to dust,” he said, “but it would cost you more than you know.”

Dumbledore’s heart sank. “What then? How are we to be rid of it?”

The imp laced his fingers before his chest, all scales and glittering eyes. “It shall be my price,” he said. “For you to be rid of it, you must give to me.”

“”You?”

Rumpelstiltskin inclined his head. “A fair price, to take it beyond your world. I have need of powerful objects and this one is no mere trinket.”

A question tripped to Dumbledore’s tongue, but he smothered it. Better not to know. Trifling in the affairs of wizards and imps seldom ended well. “We have a deal, then.”

“Ah, ah.” Rumpelstiltskin wagged a finger. “There is one more condition. You cannot call on me again. My name is to be forgotten.”

Dumbledore stared at him. If it kept Harry from the mirror and kept him safe from the dreams of a life long gone, like his own happier times with his family and his friends, then so be it. They had fought wars before Rumpelstiltskin and they would fight them long after.

“Deal,” he said.


End file.
